Our third Day of Chant will focus on Byzantine Chant. The day will be led by Dr. Alexander Lingas, one of the leading academics in the field of Byzantine and Orthodox Chant. He is also a Cantor for the Orthodox Church as well as the founder and Artistic Director of the internationally acclaimed choral ensemble Capella Romana.

As many people will be new to this tradition of Chant the majority of the texts will be in English, and the day will mainly comprise practical sessions exploring the notation of the music and the nuances of singing it.

The lectures and workshop part of the day will be taking place at Canterbury Christ Church University’s Canterbury campus.

We will be aiming towards a Service of Byzantine Reader’s Vespers which will take place in St. Mildred’s Church at 5 o’clock.

Tea and coffee will be provided on arrival but you will need to make your own arrangements for lunch; do feel free to bring sandwiches or, if you prefer, take advantage of the many excellent restaurants in Canterbury City Centre. There is also a café close to the seminar room we will be using.

Please email us at contact@gregoriansociety.org if you are interested and we’ll send you details of the day including costs and timing.

No tags

St. Thomas’s Church Choir, assisted by other Parish choirs from Canterbury, sings Solemn Vespers in honour of St. Thomas of Canterbury in the Chapel or Our Lady Undercroft in Canterbury Cathedral. There is a lot of congregational singing of English psalm texts to Gregorian Chant. All are welcome.

No tags

A report of CGMS Vespers at St. Peter’s, Oare by Helen Nattrass

As I approached St. Peter’s Church at Oare on Sunday 26^th October, I felt as if I were ‘going to work’ and was busy thinking about directing the Vespers and making sure that the Choir and the Congregation were settled and ready to sing the whole thing without any major snags.

Nothing prepared me for the glorious sight of the Iconostasis and its Icons as I entered the church. No photograph captures the deep yellow and sheen of pure gold and this exhibition had lots of it, with the portraits of Christ, Mary, the Saints, scenes from the life of Jesus and so on. Each picture had its individual character and its own inner story and life. We all spent minutes of wonder and awe gazing at the images in front of us. 

For the Vespers we were a choir of around twenty people. We arranged ourselves in the choir stalls and waited for the Congregation to arrive. We expected a good turnout but could not believe it when we ended up with standing room only; and even that ran out by 6.30 when we began.

We sang the service through assisted by Carolin Clapperton, the Vicar at Oare. In some places the Congregation joined in as well. The Icons gave the Vespers service an extraordinary atmosphere. To conclude, the Choir came out of their benches, faced the Iconostasis and sang the solemn ‘Salve Regina’. There was a tangible sense of connection with the spirit of the images on view. After the last note died away there was total silence which lasted for several minutes before anyone felt they could move. In the end I think nobody wanted to leave the Icons.

We received many congratulatory comments from members of the congregation afterwards and, though credit should go to those of you who came along and were part of the choir on the evening, some of the success is surely due to the very nature of Gregorian Chant and the excellent setting we were in. I would like to officially thank all those who came and sang, and especially congratulate those who took the plunge and sang with us after only a limited amount of chant experience.

Our social hour afterwards at the Three Mariners sealed this project in a very convivial manner!

No tags